Fix: edge-tts 403 Forbidden in China

Microsoft Bing Speech is blocked in China. Here's why MoneyPrinterTurbo voiceover fails and how to fix it in two steps.

The Error

When MoneyPrinterTurbo tries to generate voiceover, it fails with:

WSServerHandshakeError: 403, message='Invalid response status'
(from speech.platform.bing.com)

The Edge TTS (Text-to-Speech) engine can't reach Microsoft's Bing Speech servers — they're blocked by the Great Firewall.

Why It Happens

MoneyPrinterTurbo's free voiceover feature uses Microsoft Edge TTS (edge-tts Python package), which connects to speech.platform.bing.com — a Microsoft Azure endpoint. This domain is blocked in mainland China. Without a VPN, the WebSocket handshake fails with 403.

This affects all users in China regardless of ISP (China Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile). Using a mirror for pip won't help — the block is at the network level, not the package level.

The Fix (Two Steps)

Turn ON your VPN — The Bing Speech endpoint must be reachable. Without VPN routing, no amount of package configuration will fix this.
Upgrade edge-tts:

pip install edge-tts --upgrade

Done. With VPN on and edge-tts updated, restart the MPT backend and voiceover will work. The upgraded package handles connection retries better and includes fixes for newer Bing Speech API versions.

VPN Toggle Strategy for MPT

Using MoneyPrinterTurbo in China requires strategic VPN toggling. Here's the complete on/off map:

Step	VPN	Why
git clone	ON	GitHub blocked
pip install (mirror)	OFF	Aliyun mirror faster direct
Edge TTS voiceover	ON	Bing Speech blocked
Pexels footage download	ON	Pexels blocked

Split-tunnel VPN recommended. Use Clash Verge or V2Ray with rule-based routing — auto-route GitHub, Bing, and Pexels through VPN while keeping pip mirror traffic direct. No more manual toggling.

Alternative: Skip Edge TTS Entirely

If you have an Azure Speech API key, you can bypass Edge TTS completely. Add your Azure credentials to config.toml and MPT will use Azure's official TTS API instead — which is not blocked in China and offers more voice options.

See the full setup guide for all configuration options.

Related Fixes

No Web UI? → Switch to v1.1.0 (the one with GUI)
g4f not working? → Switch to Qwen or other free LLM
moviepy.editor not found? → moviepy version fix

See the full bug catalog for all 18 fixes. | How to use MPT →